Preparing your PDF for download...
There was a problem with your download, please contact the server administrator.
The American Presence in Ulster
A Diplomatic History, 1796-1996
Imprint: Catholic University of America Press
The American Presence in Ulster tells the story of the link between Ulster and the United States and presents the first general history of the U.S. Consulate in Belfast. While many historians have written about the impact of Ulster on the United States, this book also highlights the profound impact the United States has had on Ulster. The history of the Consulate General provides a unifying theme in this story, and the rich resources of the U.S. State Department and the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland make possible a unique view of both the culture and commerce of the province and also the growth of the Consular Service.
Written in a wonderfully clear and engaging style, this book spans the two hundred years since the opening of the Consulate General in 1796. By the late eighteenth century, almost half a million Ulstermen had migrated to America and strong economic ties had been forged. The linen industry in Ulster obtained most of the flax seed supply from the United States and sold most of its finished cloth to Americans. This was the beginning of a flow across the Atlantic of people and culture, goods and commerce, ideas and good will—a movement that has continued in peace and war, as well as in prosperity and famine, up to the present.
By the 1990s President Bill Clinton was fully engaged in working to promote the Peace Process in Northern Ireland. During his presidency, the Consulate General celebrated the bicentennial anniversary of its founding. It was recognized as one of the first opened by the new republic and one of the longest to have remained in continuous service. It was also heralded as one of the largest in the U.S. Foreign Service. These recent events may have been among the most dramatic examples of the American presence in Northern Ireland, but as this story shows, they have been preceded by a long and colorful history.
Francis M. Carroll is professor of history at the University of Manitoba. His numerous publications include Money for Ireland and A Good and Wise Measure: The Search for the Canadian-American Boundary, winner of the J.W. Dafoe Prize and the Albert B. Corey Prize.
"Lucidly written and exhaustively researched, Francis Carroll's account of The American Presence in Ulster will be of keen interest to diplomatic and social historians alike. This definitive study offers an instructive narrative of the multifaceted interactions between America and the people of Northern Ireland as seen from the perspective of the United States Consulate in Belfast. Extending over the decidedly transformational two-hundred-year period between 1796 and 1996, this book adds notably to our understanding of the Ulster dimension in Anglo-American relations within that expansive time frame."
~Thomas E. Hachey, Boston College
"Francis Carroll has produced an excellent study of the American consulate in Belfast since its founding in 1796. Although it is primarily an account of diplomatic history, Carroll casts an important light on developments in Ulster and the U.S. He deals not only with significant early matters, such as eighteenth-century emigration, but he also covers the last thirty-five years of conflict and efforts at conflict resolution in Northern Ireland."
~Brian Walker, Queen's University of Belfast
"Now comes a broader study of Ulster-American relations by the veteran historian Francis M. Carroll, who centers his account of those relations around the history of the United States Consulate in Belfast. While the last two chapters of Carroll's book provide a synthesis of work done on the "Troubles" and the peace process, the greatest value of the volume lies in the longer-term perspective provided by the earlier chapters?a perspective that sets more recent events into historical context."
~New Hibernia Review
"Lucidly written and impressively researched, this history of the American presence in Northern Ireland contains an excellent index, bibliography, and, commendably, source references that appear as footnotes. Francis Carroll’s account of the unexpected role played by an improbably important diplomatic post could serve as a valued primer for future studies in this genre."
~Journal of British Studies
"In this well-constructed and engagingly written book, Francis M. Carroll interweaves the history of the United States consulate in Belfast with a more general narrative of two hundred years of U.S.-Ulster interconnection."
~Journal of American History
"This history is well written, well documented from both primary and secondary sources, and well argued regarding the key role played by American consuls in maintaining and expanding good relations between Ulster and the United States. It tells the complex story of how those relations evolved over 200 years, with ramifications for the southern Irish, the British, and other aspects of the international history of those two centuries. The book is a must read for historians and his- torical students interested in Irish and American history."
~American Historical Review
"Drawing on a wide range of secondary and primary sources, Carroll's meticulously researched book brings a new dimension to the study of Northern Ireland. In his fascinating and timely study, Carroll's unique approach to the relationship between the United States and Ulster focuses on the bridge provided by the US consulate at Belfast, the second oldest in the service of the United States. Carroll's history of the consulate provides telling insights into the US presence in Ulster for two hundred years, as well as taking account of the story of Ulstermen in the United States."
~International History Review
"Drawing upon a rich and diverse array of official government, primary and secondary sources, Carroll has made a unique and welcome contribution to scholars and students seeking to understand the longevity, complexity and diverse nature of the Ulster American connection."
~Irish Literary Supplement